Complex Systems Lab

People in our lab: Past & Present

Current members

Lael Parrott, Associate professor
(PhD Biosystems Engineering, McGill University)
Dr. Parrott is Director of the Complex Systems Laboratory.

Charles-André Carron, Bachelors student
(B.Eng. École Polytechnique de Montréal, in progress)
Project: Assessing the impact of human land use on global vegetation dynamics

Clément Chion, Postdoctoral researcher
(M.Eng., Automated production engineering, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) & PhD, ÉTS & Université de Montréal, 2011)
Project: Application of the 3MTSim model for decision support related to the sustainable management of marine traffic in the Saint Lawrence River estuary.
(Co-supervised by Jacques-André Landry, École de technologie supérieure & Danielle Marceau, University of Calgary)

Élise Filotas, Postdoctoral researcher, Forest Complexity Modelling Program (FCM)
(PhD, Géographie, Université de Montréal, 2009)
Project in collaboration with members of FCM and the Centre for Forest Studies (UQAM)

Philippe Girard, Postdoctoral researcher
(PhD, Molecular Ecology, Université de Montréal, 2008)
Project: Modelling stream salamanders on Covey Hill, QC
(Co-supervised by David Green, Redpath Museum, McGill University)

Rodolphe Gonzales, PhD student
(M.Sc. Geography, Université de Montréal)
Project: Landscape futures analysis for the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
(Co-supervised by Prof. Wayne Meyer, Soil and Land Systems, University of Adelaide)

Jean-Sébastien Landry, PhD student
(B.Sc. Physics; M.Sc. Environment, Université de Sherbrooke)
Project: Future scenarios analysis of the interactions between land use change and climate in the Canadian Boreal forest.
(in co-supervision with Navin Ramunkutty, Dept. of Geography, McGill University)

Guillaume Latombe, PhD student
(M.Eng., Automated production engineering, École de technologie supérieure & M.Sc. Primatology, University of Barcelona)
Project: Development of an individual-based model of the woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) for assessing the impact of forest management strategies on the population's long-term viability in the Côte-Nord region of Québec.
(Co-supervised by Daniel Fortin, Biology, U. Laval)

Julie Lepine, B.Sc. honour's student
Project: Finding optimal shipping routes in the Saint Lawrence Estuary: Evaluating tradeoffs between biodiversity conservation and economics

Kristel Lucas, M.Sc. student
(B.Sc. Geography, Université de Montréal)
Project: Exploration of management scenarios for the boreal forest that mitigate the impact of forest harvesting on woodland caribou populations
(Co-supervised by Daniel Fortin, Biology, U. Laval)

Maria Mujica, B.Sc. honour's student
Project: Development of a woodland caribou population viability model for decision support

Cristiane Martins, PhD student
(M.Sc. Ecology, Universidade de Brasília)
Project: Modeling the spatiotemporal dynamics of marine mammals in the St. Lawrence estuary.
(Co-supervised by Robert Michaud of the GREMM)

Caroline Pinsonnault, B.Sc. honour's student
Project: Understanding the complex dynamics of coral reef assembly

Ricardo Rios, Doctoral student on exchange from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Project: Non-linear time series analysis
(Research supervisor: Rodrigo Mello, Bioinspired Computation Laboratory, Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Sao Paulo)

Caroline von Schilling, Ph.D. student
(M.Sc. Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, University of Northern British Columbia)
Project: Self-organised structure in complex systems and implications on adaptive capacity.

Visiting researchers

Jørgen Vitting-Andersen
(PhD Physics, Technical University of Denmark)
Dr Vitting-Andersen is a research officer at the Institut non linéaire de Nice. His expertise is in physics, finance and complex systems.

Associate members

Jeffrey Cardille, Assistant professor
(PhD Environmental Sciences, University of Wisconsin)
Dr. Cardille is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Université de Montréal.

Jacques-André Landry, Associate professor
(PhD Biosystems Engineering, McGill University)
Dr. Landry is an associate professor in the Laboratoire de vision, imagerie et intelligence artificielle, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS).

Recently left us....

Samuel Turgeon, M.Sc. student (2009-2012)
(B.Sc. honors in Geography, Université de Montréal)
Project: Analysis of spatiotemporal hydro-acoustic data of biomass in the Saint Lawrence estuary

Clément Chion, Doctoral student (2006-2011)
(M.Eng., Génie de la production automatisé, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS))
Projet: An agent-based model for the sustainable management of navigation activities in the Saint Lawrence Estuary.
(Co-supervised with Jacques-André Landry, École de technologie supérieure)

Julie Sainmont, Undergraduate intern (2010)
(INSA, Lyon, France; Bioinformatics & Modelling)
Project: Modelling forest growth with SELES.

Rémi Labrecque, M.Sc. student (2009-2010)
(M.Sc., Physics, McGill University)
Project: Spatial modelling of assemblage in multi-species communities.

Philippe Lamontagne, M.Eng. student (ÉTS) (2007-2009)
(B.Eng., Automated production engineering, École de technologie supérieure)
Project: Pattern oriented modelling of the movements of marine mammals in the St. Lawrence estuary.
(Co-supervision with Jacques-André Landry, École de technologie superieure)
* Philippe is working as a research engineer.

Élise Filotas, PhD student (2004-2009)
(M.Sc. Physics, McGill University)
Project: Individual-based multispecies modelling of ecosystems to explore spatial interaction patterns.
(Co-supervised by Martin Grant, Dept. of Physics, McGill University)
* Élise is currently a research professional with the Centre for Forest Studies in Montreal.

Mouna Petit-Jean, Undergraduate research assistant (Summer 2009)
Project: Ecological data entry & analysis; assistance with field work

Caroline Gaudreau, Undergraduate research assistant (2008)
(Software engineering, École de technologie supérieure)
Project: Design of a web-based integrated database and visualisation system for the Canadian Sustainable Forest Management Network. (with R. Gonzales)

Christine Grenier, MSc student (2005-2008)
(B.Sc. Geography, Université de Montréal)
Project: 3D modelling of root development in response to physical and chemical characteristics of the soil matrix.
(Co-supervised by François Courchesne, Geography, UdeM)

Raphaël Proulx, PhD student (2004-2007)
(M.Sc. Ecology, Université du Québec à Trois Rivières)
Project: Studying the relationship between structural complexity and ecological diversity.
* Raphaël became a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena and is now an assistant professor in ecology at UQTR.

Isabelle Marcoux, Senior undergraduate student (2006-07)
Project: Modelling the effect of environmental heterogeneity on multi-species dynamics.
* Isabelle continued on to do an MSc at UQAM.

Pascal Côté, PhD student (2004-2006)
(MEng, Automated production engineering, École de technologie supérieure)
Project: Study of community assembly using a model of ecological networks.

Francis Meloche, MSc student (2002-2005)
Project: Using measures of self-organisation to quantify the ecological integrity of terrestrial ecosystems.
* Francis is currently working in geomatics for the Canadian military.

Xavier Thibert-Plante, MSc student (2003-2005)
Project: Self-organisation of evolutionary strategies in a spatial environment.
* Xavier is currently pursuing a PhD in Biology at McGill University.

Véronique Tremblay, Undergraduate student (Summer 2005)
Project: Using digital images to capture spatiotemporal changes in structural diversity of the forest understory.
* Véronique continued on to do an MSc at U. Laval

Ken Arii, Postdoctoral fellow (2003-2005)
Projects: Use of WIST to study stability-diversity and scaling relationships in ecosystems. Network structure in food webs.
* Ken currently holds a faculty position in ecology.

Josée Charbonneau, Senior undergraduate student (2004-2005)
Project: Effects of species loss on the structure of the Mont St. Hilaire food web.

Chantale Châtelaine, Senior undergraduate student (2004-2005)
Project: Modelling the long-term evolution of the sugar maple using WIST.

Christine Grenier, Senior undergraduate student (2004-2005)
Project: A coupled-map lattice model of the spatiotemporal dynamics of a predator-prey metapopulation in a fragmented habitat.

Raphaëlle Derome, Research assistant (2002-2003)
Project: Conception and analysis of the food web of the Mount St. Hilaire biosphere reserve and comparaison with models of other complex networks.
* Raphaëlle is currently working as a science reporter.

Marie-Lou LeFrançois, Senior undergraduate student (2002-2003)
Project: Calibration of the TRAGIC++ forest stand model to tree species found at the Date Creek research forest (on the west coast of British Columbia).
* Marie-Lou continued on to do a master's degree in forest ecology at UQAM.